E-commerce players hiring rapidly amid boom

He fast-paced trading sector We are likely to see a year-on-year increase of up to 40% in hiring during this festive season, driven by the influx of e-commerce older Amazon and Flipkart, as well as expansion by existing players, according to executives at staffing and recruitment services companies.

But some second-tier cities are poised to double their workforce amid a much faster pace of demand growth, said executives at companies including Quess, CIEL HR, Randstad and Adecco, among others.

According to experts, demand for labour has already increased by 20-40% at fast-moving companies, which hire both temporary and casual workers. “Last year, demand for temporary hiring during the festive season was moderate. This year, we are seeing a 40% increase in demand,” said Manu Saigal, general staffing director at Adecco.

Aditya Mishra, CEO, CIEL HR Services, said, “Overall, demand for manpower is likely to be 25-30 per cent higher this year in fast-paced trade. The demand is most pronounced, even up to 100 per cent, in Tier II cities like Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Faridabad, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow and Varanasi.”

Daily orders from fast-trading companies are expected to double in October from a year ago, said an expert, who did not want to be named.

Ujjwal Chaudhry, partner at strategy consultancy RedSeer, said the growth in fast-paced commerce this season will likely be driven by the expansion of dark stores, or warehouses, by all major players. Swiggy Instamart is expanding into tier II and tier III cities, having recently launched its operations in Kanpur, Udaipur, Warangal, Amritsar and Salem. “As we continue to grow, especially with the festive season approaching, the need for additional resources will increase to meet changing customer expectations and our commitment to deliver multiple product categories in just 10 minutes,” said Girish Menon, chief human resources officer, Swiggy.

The company recently appointed Amitesh Jha as CEO and Sairam Krishnamurthy as its first COO for Instamart.

He also appointed Himavant Srikrishna Kurnala as senior vice president, products; Aakash Bhotika as vice president, business; Mayank Rajvaidya as vice president, fruits and vegetables; and Manu Sasidharan as associate vice president, FMCG category for Instamart.

Competitor Zomato It has also ramped up operations at its fast-trading unit, Blinkit, which recently launched services in Vijayawada, Bathinda, Kochi and Haridwar.

A Blinkit spokesperson said: “We plan to increase coverage to more cities in the coming weeks and are looking to expand our service to cover more neighborhoods in these markets.”

For the period from August to October, there is a 20% sequential increase in fast-trade hiring, he said. TeamLease Services Senior Vice President Balasubramanian A.

Yeshab Giri, business director, operational talent solutions, Randstad India, said, “We estimate the current workforce in India’s fast-paced retail sector to be 300,000 to 400,000 people.” delivery menwith large companies employing between 200,000 and 250,000 delivery partners.”

Experts say that salaries for fast-paced and e-commerce workers are expected to rise to nearly ₹23,000 per month in metropolises and ₹15,000 in non-metropolises. “For regions like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi, salaries may even go up to ₹22,000-23,000 per month due to market demand in metropolises like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi,” said Lohit Bhatia, president, personnel management at Quess Corporation.

Adecco’s Saigal said: “Fast commerce requires a scalable workforce that can adapt to the dynamic nature of the business and therefore the demand for gig workers “has almost doubled.”